1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and a device for filing picture images recorded by a digital camera, and also to a storage medium which stores a program for the method. More specifically, the present invention relates to a filing method and the like used in a case where picture image data in a digital camera""s memory are transferred to another medium and stored in the storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Arts
A digital camera is used to store pictures recorded thereby in a built-in memory thereof or in a memory card in the form of digital image data. When the memory is full, the digital image data stored in the memory are usually transferred to another medium and subsequent picture recording is carried out thereafter. The price of a memory (or the number of memory cards and the like) is proportional to its capacity. Therefore, it has been known that a maintenance cost of picture recording can be suppressed when picture image data are transferred frequently from only one memory card rather than occasionally from a plurality of memory cards. As a medium for storing transferred data, a hard disc of a personal computer or an image server in a laboratory can be used.
Meanwhile, in a digital camera, when picture image data having been recorded by the camera are stored in a memory, recording property information such as a theme title of the picture and the date of recording may sometimes be stored together with the picture image data in one file. For example, Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd. has proposed an image file format which is called Exif (Exchangeable image file format) as a file format for such an occasion. The recording property information is used when the date of recording is printed at an edge of a picture upon printing of the picture in a laboratory, for example.
An image file which is stored in a memory of a digital camera as described above is stored in the memory under a file name which is distinguishable from other files, such as a name comprising a recording serial number. However, such a file name is merely a name for identifying a file in the memory, and renaming should be carried out when the file is transferred from the memory to another medium so that no file names are identical with one another within the medium.
If no identical file names is the only issue to be considered, consecutive serial numbers may be sufficient as the file names, for example. However, when an image file needs to be used after some time, a file name such as a serial number presents a problem in searching the image file, since a relationship between the content of the picture image recorded and the file name is not obvious from the file name if it is merely a serial number. Therefore, if an image server in a laboratory is used, for example, a file name such as a name showing a relationship between a customer and the date of receipt is usually used. If a hard disc of a personal computer in a general household is used, a file name showing a relationship with the picture content or the date of recording is frequently used.
However, such file management is very troublesome, not only in the cases where a digital camera is involved. Furthermore, in the case of a digital camera, a large amount of files frequently need to be transferred in a short time, which is different from document file management, for example. In other words, in a case of a laboratory where prints are created from a customer""s memory card, the memory card should be returned to the customer after an immediate transfer of files. In a case such that an individual brings a notebook computer to a place where pictures are shot, and consecutively takes pictures while storing image data, a transfer of image data files to a hard disc should be carried out as soon as possible so that the person does not miss a photo taking opportunity.
Therefore, there has been desired a method for easily transferring image data of pictures recorded by a digital camera to a server in a laboratory or to a hard disc of a personal computer.
Based on consideration of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a method and a device for enabling easier filing by determining a file name with no complete overlap with another file name, which is easy to understand, and easy to search for later, when image data of a picture recorded by a digital camera are transferred to another medium.
The picture image filing method of the present invention is a method for storing an image file comprising image data representing a picture image recorded by a digital camera and recording property information of the picture image by copying the file from a first storage means, such as a memory card within the digital camera in which the image file has been recorded by the recording, to a second storage medium outside the digital camera, comprising the steps of determining a file name of the image file in the second storage means containing at least a portion of the recording property information of the image file and image file identifying information for identifying the file name in the second storage means, and storing the image file by copying the image file using the determined file name as the name of the image file in the second storage means.
xe2x80x9cThe recording property informationxe2x80x9d herein referred to means, for example, a theme title of a recording, the date of recording, a recording frame number, the name of a camera, the name of a photographer, picture location information and any other information relevant to the recording. It depends on a digital camera function or a mode setting as to what kind of recording property information can be stored. In the present invention, it is assumed that at least one kind of recording property information is contained within an image file.
xe2x80x9cA first storage meansxe2x80x9d herein referred to mainly means a built-in memory of a digital camera or a memory card, but also means a medium which cannot be incorporated in a digital camera, such as a floppy disc. In other words, although the present invention originally targets a case where recorded image data are transferred to another medium for the first time, the present invention can also be used in a case where an image data were temporarily transferred to another medium because the function of the present invention was not available at the time of this first transfer, and the image data are transferred to still another medium using the function of the present invention. xe2x80x9cA second storage means outside the digital cameraxe2x80x9d means a server in a laboratory, a hard disc of a personal computer, or the like.
xe2x80x9cCopyingxe2x80x9d means not only what is widely called copying but also a transfer through a cable, network, infrared communication or the like.
xe2x80x9cImage file identifying informationxe2x80x9d means a number, a symbol, a character or the like to be determined only for identifying a file. Depending on the kind of recording property information to be used for file name determination, a plurality of image files can have identical recording property information. Therefore, the image file identifying information is used to make a file name in the second storage medium unique in such a case. It can be a serial number, for example. In this case, if the recording property information is a theme title and the date of recording, supposing that October 10 is expressed as 1010, the file name is determined such as athletic meeting 10101, athletic meeting 10102, athletic meeting 10103 . . . and so on.
Furthermore, the picture image filing device of the present invention is a device for carrying out processing according to the above filing method, and this device stores an image file comprising image data representing a picture image recorded by a digital camera and recording property information of the picture image by copying the file from a first storage means, such as a memory card within the digital camera in which the image file has been recorded by the recording, to a second storage medium outside the digital camera, comprising a file name determination means for determining a file name in the second storage means containing at least a portion of the property information of the image file and image file identifying information for identifying the file name in the second storage means, and a storage means for storing the image file by copying the image file using the determined file name as the name of the image file in the second storage means. The picture image filing device specifically means, for example, a printing system having the above function and set in a laboratory, a personal computer, a work station or the like.
The storage medium of the present invention is a storage medium provided for implementing the above filing method using a general purpose computer such as a personal computer, and stores a program for carrying out, using a computer, the filing method which stores an image file comprising image data representing a picture image recorded by a digital camera and recording property information of the image file by copying the image file from a first storage means in which the image file has been recorded by the recording to a second storage medium outside the digital camera. The program is a filing processing program characterized by that the program makes the computer determine a name of the image file in the second storage medium comprising at least one portion of the recording property information of the image file and image file identifying information for identifying the image file in the second storage means, and carry out copying and storage of the image file using the determined file name as the name of the image file in the second storage means.
The picture image filing method and device of the present invention is used to automatically determine a file name comprising recording property information included in an image file and image file identifying information for identifying the image file when a picture image recorded by a digital camera is transferred from a memory attached to the camera to another medium, and also to copy the file in the medium using the determined file name as the file name in the medium. In this manner, it is not necessary to individually determine a file name for each image file. It also becomes possible to file image files under file names which are not time consuming to determine, without complete overlap with another file name, are easy to understand, and easy to search for later, even when a transfer of image files needs to be carried out frequently.
Since the storage medium which stores the program of the present invention stores the program for carrying out the above filing method, it becomes possible to install this program into a general purpose personal computer or a work station, which makes the personal computer or the like serve as a filing device equivalent to the above filing device of the present invention.